Pages

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Jurassic World Review

So I finally ended up watching Jurassic World. A prediction was made on this blog a while ago, that if Chris Pratt's Owen Grady died, the movie would be given props. Full spoilers ahead, but no, Owen Grady did not die. So the film does not get props for that.

However, from an actual reviewer standpoint, Chris Pratt's Owen Grady, in contrast to his Peter Quill, is a much quieter and more serious character. An ex-Navy officer, even though he is not averse to cracking jokes, as soon as the situation becomes a serious one, his demeanor changes and adapts accordingly. Bryce Dallas Howard's character was good, I mean, I never really cared much for her, but she was a means to connect with the children. We were supposed to channel through her and grow to appreciate the kids just as she learned to. I do not really know if Howard is a good actress or a bad one, but she did a reasonable job. Not as well as Chris Pratt, but good enough to support the movie. Vincent D'Onofrio is again, very good. I mean, I find it great that unlike in Marvel's Daredevil he can talk using his actual voice. As the head of inGen, we can expect from the beginning that his character, Vic Hoskins, is going to be evil. No hiding that. Except I mean how stupid can your character be written: "You know what I think the military needs? Velociraptors." What? What led you to that conclusion? Thankfully, D'Onofrio's acting salvages the character. Then Irrfan Khan comes and plays the Indian guy, because he's rich and they needed a foreign presence past Omar Sy. BD Wong, however, who is only in the film for about as much as he was in Jurassic Park, steals the show as Henry Wu. We finally add more dimensions to his character and we see inGen's head of science take a more serious and conniving role, yet everything that he says, we cannot help but agree with.

That is what makes Henry Wu so important to this film. He represents the thematic focal point of the film. While unlike the original, this one does not have a "Life Finds a Way" moment and does not even mention Ian Malcolm past an Easter egg. When Masrani confronts Wu, the good doctor simply tells him that while Masrani Global may have envisioned a creature that looked like the Indominus Rex, they should have predicted what that meant. inGen simply says, that if it looks scary because it seems dangerous, it probably is dangerous. Masrani asked for something cool and terrifying looking without knowing what that really meant. inGen gave it to them, fully knowing what it meant. There is the theme, Wu simply states that the word monster is a biased point of view and that from an objective perspective, the Indominus Rex is only doing what it can. It may seem cool, it may seem terrifying, it may act like a monster, but inGen created it, man created it. The film is not going against cloning or creating hybrids, but similar to Jurassic Park, it is reminding us that without proper care, repercussions will occur.

Also, this time, they actually showed Wu leave the island. As for the actual story, I predicted this the moment I heard about it. Either the Indominus Rex frees the Tyrannosaurus Rex and they wreak havoc together, or the Indominus Rex is killed by the T-Rex at the end. Guess what happens? Indominus Rex doesn't free the T-Rex, no, it frees the Pteranodons who go berserk. There is one scene that I am sure that feminists are all over. The nanny of the two kids gets picked up by a Pterodactyl and repeatedly dropped into the water, when it finally picks her back up, they are both eaten by a Mosasaur. Relax Feminazis, the dinosaurs are all female. Back on point, while the Indominus Rex alliance comes with Pteranodons, a notable point is actually within the velociraptors. Right at the beginning, they do try to kill Owen Grady when he saves his assistant. They lunge for him as the gates close. These animals are not tame, they are still the vicious conniving bastards they were three movies ago. It reminds me of The Lord of the Rings, they need to get rid of the One Ring because they cannot use it. You cannot use evil to fight evil. The movie maintains the velociraptors are not evil, but they kill a lot of people and when they decide to go against the Indominus Rex, it appears to be more of a factor of mutual survival rather than because it is the right thing to do. In the end, like I predicted, the Tyrannosaurus Rex fights the Indominus Rex. I was surprised, though, when Indominus was about to kill it, but it made sense. This creature could not kill the Spinosaurus in this series and this is the original T-Rex, an old veteran of war. So when it needed help, it was easy to understand. What I did not expect, though, was how the T-Rex killed the Indominus Rex. It led it to the Mosasaur, that was unexpected. The T-Rex may have kicked the Indominus' ass, but the Mosasaur claims the kill, a pleasant surprise.

Like I said, the story on paper is very simple. Wu creates Indominus Rex, Indominus Rex frees Pterodactyls who wreak havoc, Velociraptors change alliance more times than the Big Show, T-Rex kicks Indominus Rex's ass, Indominus Rex dies, Owen gets the girl and the T-Rex stands tall. What makes it work are the fact thatt the Velociraptors are terrifying, that Wu's words to Masrani (which is not pronounced Mazzzz-raini like every actor in the movie claims) echo through every action of the film and that the T-Rex kicks ass. In the end, though, this film is is a very good film. Not as good as the original two, but still very good in its own right. There are those small comedic moments like when inGen's tech guy gets friendzoned and "your boyfriend is badass" that make the film seem less serious than it should. Those moments have no place in a film where Velociraptors could be right behind you. However, the film is very good and works on its own. It proves the point that it needed to prove, that a dinosaur film can still work. It seemed one-off, like they were not trying to start a franchise and that made it better.

Not as thematic as the original, and not as action packed as the original sequel, but still an amazing film that is recommended. Go watch Jurassic World, it is 7/10.